Sunny Skies of Kauai

  

Aloha from Kauai!

Everytime I come to the islands I amazed at the ocean. The sheer power of it can make me swoon and go weak in the knees. Oh, the trees and flowers are fine, but I can see bigger trees and different flowers at home. Granted, these are tropical flowers with their broad red leaves.At home I can look out the window or walk into my backyard and see hanging moss, lichen and blackberry vines. Ok. OK! The flora is gorgeous, but no more beautiful than the NW offerings. It's the OCEAN. I can stand or sit for long periods of time just looking out into the horizon and watch the breakers follow the tides pull to shore. The ever-old pounding of the surf always holds me transfixed. Now, if I could only wiggle my nose and have all of the people vanish...but, I digress....

Right now, at this very moment, it's raining. It's not a NorthWet rain...thank you, God. It's a tropical shower that is coming down in buckets. It's dark on the lanai, but already I can see the clouds and rain are going to blow out to sea. It's early on Sunday morning July 23. I'm listening to the resident rooster signal the coming dawn.  The sun is up signaling the coming of a gorgeous day, my hubby just kissed me good morning as I look out onto MY OCEAN..my communing temple with God...I see surfers on the close in and far out breakers....sigh...memo to Pat....you are not alone in Kauai. Awrighty then...I will quit waxing poetic and get down to the serious stuff of what the heck am I doing in Kauai.

VACATION!

Normally, if there is such a thing, John and I would wait until late August or September in order to avoid a lot more people. So, why are we here amidst a sea of the multitides? FAMILY.

We are here with the Rodriguez family: Johns's sister, Patti, her husband Javiar (Jav), and two daughters, Solea 15, and Caricia 13. We hatched the idea on the phone one day and two days later, we had flights booked and our condo space locked in. ACTION WOMEN! This is their first time to the Hawaiian Islands and it is wonderful to see it for the first time through their eyes. Having them as family is only a bonus, as we are close friends. They are an example that you can't pick your family, but you can pick your friends amongst family. We are so greatful they are both! And as we gather and talk...we are reminded just how fragile relationships are. They take work and time to maintain. To me a valued friendship, be it in a family or not, is about sharing a history of events where there is give and take, mutual and shared opinions and a true and open line of honest communication....and ya just gotta like the person or persons enough to want to spend time and share with them. We have that kind of relationship with the Rodriguez family. We are blessed.

The Hood....and...slidin' into home....after the fact

Not quite the mudpuddle encountered on Mt. Hood...but the Creature From the Black Lagoon did try to reach out and grab John and his Wing!

It seems oddly funny now and I admit to laughing - well, at least having a giggle or two our last day on the road. Cold, wet, raining...narry a sunny beam along the way from Lakeview to Battleground.  Miserable and dreary. Welcome back to the Northwest...

We are, by this time, pretty road weary. As we approached the rest area at Government Camp Hwy 26 - up over Mt. Hood, the weather is rotten...well, it is a mountain, afterall and our spring weather has been abysmal. Why did I think it was going to be different - just because we are on our last leg of the trip? Silly girl.

The mudpuddle what ate the Wing came up out of nowhere. Well, it was there...John just didn't see it for what it was:  HUGE.  I can still see it in my eyeballs:  John sitting in a mudpuddle with the Wing balancing on the safety gadgets to keep it from damaging the engine. Was .....oddly funny. After getting help picking up the Wing and dusting off pride....we headed down the mountain toward our garage.

Re-entry was....interesting. After over 5,000 miles of riding in the worst possible weather - I turned the my Good and Faithful Sportster into my garage, caught my rain pants on the brake pedal and skidded the bike on it's side the last 6 feet into the garage.

 As I laid there 1/2 under the bike (did not go down all the way because I have engine guards), I said outloud, "Oh, this is funny!"  I felt a little like the old TV show, Laugh In where Arte Johnson's tricycle falls over.  I'm not sure training wheels would have helped.  John and Tyler came running to pull me out and all I could do was laugh!  No harm - No foul - bike is fine and so am I.

Happy to be home, the first dog to greet me was my Queen:  Jazzy. She took a very long time greeting me - almost 15 minutes of licks, wiggles, yelps and snuggles. The next two:  Ira and Marley were hysterical in their greetings which lasted another 10 minutes of ear-piercing barks, snuggles and licks.

Tyler had dinner for us, a clean house, laundry done and good hugs. Good to be home.

West Wendover to Lakeview, OR....after the fact....

OK...I admit it.  I just didn't feel like blogging while wearing Cranky Pants.  John and I are home safe and that is all that really matters about the homeward bound adventure.

We had, as of the last posting on May 23, two more days on the road. They were to prove memorable.

After leaving West Wendover we headed to Winnemucca, NV to visit John's friends from his Corps days. It was a thuroughly enjoyable visit-brief, but enjoyable.  Then; the fun began....again...same...same, but different.

Same - Same But Different is a game I played with Lizzi and Eli. Example:  one day, we had to figure out why there were so many different car types on the road.  A simple way to explain was to say they were all cars...but different - hence: Same Same But Different.  We still use it and it always makes us laugh.  I only wish the Same Same But Different last two days of our trip would have made me laugh...well, in a way ...it did.

We took a wrong turn leaving Winnemucca and had to back track almost 40 miles which added 80 miles to a day that would prove to be very, very long. Sigh.  The gem of the day was not the extra 80 miles, but was finding a perfect little eating spot along the SR 140 route called: Denino Junction.  Looked like the Bates Motel from the outside, but surprisingly was clean, full of local flavor and the food was really good. And, the owner had a huge Navy Seal flag hanging from the ceiling. Right on!  We told the owner to thank his brother for his service and went on our way toward Lakeview. OR.

Denino Tree that welcomed two weary travelers!

SR 140 was boring and beautiful all at the same time.  Oh, yeah; don't forget:  scary.  From the moment we left Denino Junction there were signs : Free Range cattle and donkeys. We saw them all - including one very brave Roadrunner who ran between John's Goldwing and my Sportster at 75MPH. Beep! Beep!

We meandered our way to the top of a very high mountain pass and then had to literally snake our way to the valley floor and into Lakeview, OR This was not...NOT...my comfort zone on a bike. I didn't realize how high the pass was until we saw our first 8% downgrade sign.  UGH....hugging the wall side of the steep canyon...we slowly and cautiously wound our way down on a two lane road without guard rails. After 4 separate drops of 8%, 7% 8% and 6% we reached the valley floor where it began to rain and night darkness came down on us in the pouring rain like a thick dark cloud. Road visibility down to zero.

The ride into Adele looked like it was a pretty road...followed a river; but who could tell?  By the time we got into Lakeview....I was so done being on my bike. The hotel looked horrible, but the owner was sweet and the room was very clean.

into the storm and goo wearing my cranky pants...

This posting will not have any photos.  Why?  It's hard to take pictures while holding onto motorcycle handlebars and pay attention to the road. The day started out warm as we packed the bike to head for Arches National Park. But, as we stood by the bikes, we both heard the booming thunder and felt a swoosh of cooler air.  It was an omen of things to come...we just didn't know it..yet.
Arches was absolutely gorgeous-but because of slow busses and fumes, we did decided not to venture too far and elected to head out and save the park for another day in a car!

We didn't get far out of the park when we had to stop to put on our rain gear. The lightening began to dance across the dark sky and  the road sign told us Price, UT was 15 miles away. We tried to beat the storm and had no luck.  Looking at the dark sky with shooting lightening was frightening and both John and I knew we were not going to get into safe harbor..and we did not.  Hail, rain, sleet, wind came out of the dark sky with a vengence. Time to put on my Cranky Pants!

In 50 years of riding NEVER have I witnessed all in one trip the amount of crappy weather we have had with this trip.  With my Cranky Pants there was nothing I could do except hunker down and plow through the storm.  It was frightening to ride in the hail.  Not only did it hurt...it was blinding. When the hail let up, the rain came ..and it rained hard.  I don't know we kept the rubber side on the road. We took a necessary break in Price to decompress.  But, we were in for more...we just didn't know it.

50 years and I've only had a case of the "Willies" (who is that anyway??) once. Today, climbing up Soldiers Summit, I can say, I have had them twice.  My Cranky Pants didn't have time to be Cranky (that would come later) - I was too scared.  We snaked along side a river up the highway toward the summit.  The rain came in sheets of blinding,cold rain.  Visibility was zero.  John had been leading, but moved behind me with his flashers on to give us some type of visibility. My fear was not seeing the turns in the road..not seeing the road at all...being hit from behind...having the wind blow me off the road...having road spray from 18 wheelers totally blind me.  All I could do was trust my abilities and hang on...and send out a prayer.

At the top of the pass sat a little gas station and store.John had to help me off the bike as I was shaking so badly.  The two ladies inside the store had me sit down and they made my day when they told me we were at the top and the weather looked better going down.  I stayed in the store to get warm, quit shaking and regain some confidence. As we were about to leave, John offered a prayer and a blessing. At that moment, the rain stopped.  Hmmmm... We scooted down the mountain for the first time in 3 hours at almost freeway speed.

Cranky Pants...as we left Salt Lake and headed for West Wendover, my heart sank:  Looming ahead was another dark cloud.  Have you ever felt like the cartoon character, Pigpen..where the woofting of dust follows him everywhere? That's the way I felt when I saw the leading edge of another storm.  We had taken off our rain gear in Salt Lake-the sky was blue-sun was out-we checked the weather-AOK...NOT SO.  On the side of the busy highway we stopped on the shoulder to put on our well-used rain gear. Before we got it on...the thunder boomed and lightening flashed.  Now I'm CRANKY!  I turn around and there is a State Patrolman stopped to check on us.  I, wearing the PANTS, unloaded on him about the crappy weather in Utah! I'm laughing as I'm dumping...but I am CRANKY.  The rain came from the left, then the right, then it pushed from behind and finally, it swirled around and attacked from the front.  CRANKY PANTS OBSERVATION: WHEN RAIN COMES A SWIRLING...IT RAINS IN MY HELMET.

And what is up with wind socks and signs saying HIGH WIND AREA????  This was too much for me;  three THREE major storms in one day?  Again, no visibility, high winds, awful pelting rain, hail, lightening.  AND WHAT IS THE AWFUL GOO ALONG THE ROAD SIDE?  The Great Salt Lake?
I felt like I was on an alien planet...goo, mud...goo on both sides of the road.  AND..what are those strange little clumps of green growing out of the goo?  Alien plants...AND..JUSTHOW DO THEY PUT TELEPHONE POLES IN THE GOO?

We stopped one last time before West Wendover 79 miles to go. I remind myself to get a book about the goo and the alien pod plants. AND WHAT IS THAT STENCH?  More windsocks filled with air flying straight out ...high winds..but..say it isn't so...no rain..AND WHAT IS THAT SILLY STATUE THINGY WITH BALLS ON IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GOO? My shoulders ache, my hands are numb and my dodgy knee is throbbing. Less goo as we get closer to West Wendover. There is hope...our exit appears and we arrive at our destination in one piece-check in to Montego Bay and insert the magnetic key and enter a beautiful room.

CRANKY PANTS COMMENTS: THIS IS THE WORST RIDING VACATION I'VE EVER HAD AND NEVER GETTING TO COMPLAIN --BECAUSE I MUST ALWAYS  LOOK AT MY PART- I REFUSE TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW (ALAS, I AM HUMAN AND RIGHT NOW A LITTLE GIRL) I AM WEARING THE "PANTS" I GET TO GRIPE-JUST THIS ONCE. OK..I'm done griping and am going to bed and wake up in a new land without goo and alien pod plants and without my little girl Cranky Pants.

Little Blue Girl showing some road dirt

She doesn't look TOO bad, huh?

Help!  I'm melting-boots, rain gear..melting all over my exhaust!

The weather was perfect as we left Albuquerque and headed for Utah.  Lee was our captain-leader and the pace he chose was great for this little band of gypsies-and...no wind other than the normal freeway wind.  He chose a scenic route as we approaced Mesa Verde in the corner of Colorado which was a very nice change from blasting on the freeway.

We lunched picnic style in Aztec, NM

and found our way along the old hwy 666 renamed to the:

The holy Ghost highway...well, it is Sunday!

One of the pit stops along our route.  with 400+ miles to go to Utah, we stopped to rest weary bones and hydrate and rest my dodgy right knee, every 60 miles or so...give or take amile or two. It really doesn't matter how many stops you make-you still arrive tired and full of dirt. 

One of the great stops we made was in Macons, CO at Zuma's natural Food and Espresso Bar where we chatted with the manager, a lady from Seattle, and had hot chocolate and lemon/blueberry cake.

We cruised through Monticello, Ut to take photo of the new Temple and change into warm rain gear...clouds are gathering on the horizon where we are headed.

We ended our day in Moab with a good meal at the Blue Pig and saying fiar skies and safe journies to our road buddies Lee and Palma who have truly earned their road names:  Sultan and Dancer.

 We venture up the road toward Salt Lake City and a visit with one of my friends, Ellina and then head West toward home.

..dancin' in the wind with a Chihauhua

Odessa to Albuquerque started out with good intentions.  We met Lee and Palma at the Pierman Vietnam Memorial to take photo and have one last goodbye to the group.  Since we arrived before the group, we had plenty of good opportunity for unobstructed photos of the memorial.

Seeing this again still gives me goose pimples.  The life-like expressions and body postures of the statues wrenches my gut with pure emotion.  Three men, one wounded, onhe carrying him and hailing a Huey for rescue and one looking back for the enemy is how Vietnam was fought.  Knowing that my husband hung out the door with a 60 caliber machine gun giving support and helping evac still gives me the shivers.

We found Santa Ed in the crowd and wished him a safe journey.  Ed is quite a guy and we four adventurers, Sultan, Dancer, Crusty and bubblegum, feel happy to call him friend.

The Run's Good Servants:  Shepherd and Preacher with Me and John-Bubblegum and Crusty.

As we said our goodbye's to the group, Lee stood at attention and paid tribute by saluting.

OK...we ride on toward our night's destination of Albuquerque...and along the way we lured Sultan and Dancer to the DARK SIDE...we watched them shake hands with two Banditios. Don't ask...just look them up. These were nice guys who took the time to give us good directions to Roswell. Well, they were nice to us..and as Palma said, "We are all God's children."  So true.

Lee and Palma take on the Hydration Team duties...thank you, little yellow trailer!

Somewhere along a dirty, dusty, road in West Texas or New Mexico..there wasn't a sign that told us we had entered New Mexico.

Alien encounters at Fraley's diner in Roswell

...definitely aliens..you can tell by the silly grins.

After eating at Fraley's diner in Roswell...our 400+ mile trip got very interesting.

No alien sightings...just the wind...howling and whipping us in multiple directions all at the same time. It was hard work holding up Blue Girl..but she plowed though and carried me through while I was thinking...I'm gonna die on this road...We had to stop every 50 miles for me to decompress and be able to breathe.  After one of our decompress stops, and we were actually able to go 50MPH, I saw Lee tap his brakes and then hit them HARD.  I shifted down and then braked hard. Lee swerved to miss....a CHIHUAHUA in the middle of the freeway! EEK! I slowed down and waited for the mutt to run back to it's owners (who should be fined for not having the mutt on a leash!!).  We rode over 300 miles in the miserable wind. 400+ MILES IN THE ICKY WIND. At one decompress stop when John asked me how I was...I said, My gawd, My gawd, I'm going to die...that's how I feel. At that moment - all I wanted to do was to be in a car.

But, we made it into Albuquerque safe, but certainly not sound.



News about Agitator

A-OK...the guy has 9,10, 11 lives and an angel on his shoulder:  No broken bones, no head trauma.  Richard will be alright...his bike is another story...a million pieces.  He, Richard, there's an easier way to get a new bike!!